16 killed, 15 injured in Libya in June: UN

Tunis, July 2 (IANS/AKI) A total of 16 people including three children were killed at 15 injured in Libya in June, the United Nations support mission to the conflict-wracked country said on Monday.

Victims of warfare included 12 men, one women, two girls and one boy killed and nine men, three women, two girls and one boy injured, UNSMIL said.

Most civilian casualties were caused by shelling (seven deaths and eight injuries), followed by airstrikes (five deaths and one injury), gunfire (three deaths and five injuries), and unexploded devices (one death), it said.

The highest numbers of civilian casualties were recorded in the eastern city of Derna, which forces loyal to military strongman Khalifa Haftar said on Thursday they had captured from local fighters and Islamists.

Ten civilians were reported killed and eight injured in Derna, although the actual number of civilian casualties is believed to be higher, UNSMIL said.

"Most civilian casualties were caused by the use of unguided weapons such as artillery and mortars by (Haftar's) Libyan National Army (LNA), crossfire and unexploded remnants of war (ERW)," UNSMIL stated.

Four preventable deaths occured in Derna due to the lack of medical supplies such as oxygen tanks and inability of the sick and wounded to access medical treatment, UNSMIL cited doctors as saying.

Fierce clashes in Derna led to significant damage to civilian infrastructure, including schools, mosques and private homes. On June 5, the city's main functioning public hospital was closed following shelling, UNSMIL noted.

Several people were killed in June in Ajdabiya, also in northeast Libya, and in Bani Walid in the northwest, according to UNSMIL.

UNSMIL documented 11 additional casualties from other possible violations or abuses of international humanitarian law in Derna, in the eastern city of Tobruk, in Ajilat and Misrata in northwest Libya, and in Sabha in the southwest.

Clashes between the LNA and the Petroleum Facilities Guard forces in the Oil Crescent led to two civilian fatalities and two injuries, said UNSMIL. On 16 June, two girls were killed and a woman injured when their home in Ras Lanouf was hit in an airstrike. On 21 June, an employee in the oil sector was injured by flying debris at his workplace in Ras Lanouf during fighting, UNSMIL said.

--IANS/AKI

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